Brewing Fruit and Ideas

It's been a fruity kind of morning. I juiced another 3 cups of passionfruit, which I've been freezing until I can come up with a good recipe. I'm thinking I may make jam or jelly with it, possibly with berries, but may do some sort of dessert. Or both! Anyone have a recipe to share? I juiced a few more pears and added it to a batch of pear cider, or perry, I began on Monday. This is our first try at perry, and we're using a simple recipe. Just the pear juice, and yeast. I believe the yeast is a Sweet Mead activator, from Wyeast. There's about 3 gallons of pear juice, in a glass carboy with airlock. J has been the one researching it. If I remember correctly, the primary fermentation is done in the carboy, then sugar added, and put into bottles for the secondary fermentation. It will be a slow process, taking several months, but hopefully worth the wait!

I'm going to get the dehydrator going, for some apple rings. I like them as snacks, and J likes to break them up into his oatmeal. I've had some ideas brewing for new handmade items for my shop, and am excited about starting on them today. Here's a peek at the new fab shop, as it begins to go up.

Love Those Wild Foods

These lovely fall days are making me happy! It's a pleasure to work indoors or out. Yesterday, I juiced a large batch of passionfruit, also known as maypops in these parts. I've been freezing the juice, with the intention of making jelly, once they've all ripened. I've also been cleaning staghorn (red) sumac, basically separating stems and seeds. I'll be making zaater with these. There are many variations of this Middle Eastern spread, but the recipe I learned in a wild plants class years ago is:

5 tbs dried sumac berries (grind them in a nut or coffee grinder & sift to get the remaining, big, inner berries out & discard. Keep remaining powder.)

2 1/2 tbs sesame seeds- toast seeds & grind with a mortar & pestle or a suribachi

3/4 tbs dried thyme

3/4 tsp salt

Mix ingredients together well. Spread out in a small pan and toast in oven/toaster oven for one minute. Store in a jar.

When you're ready to use the zaater, mix some with olive oil to desired consistency, spread on bread and toast if desired. It's great as is, or with cheese and tomatoes.

Sumac also makes a tart beverage, similar to lemonade, which is loaded with Vitamin C. One recipe for this is to soak 1 tbs of berries to 1 cup of water. Sweeten with honey.

Blooms and Summer Squash Bliss

On Sunday, J & I went to the Larkspur Party in Raleigh. It's an art show and plant sale in some lovely gardens. I came home with a few plants, including a dwarf pomegranate, and also one of Laura Avery's spirit houses. A friend turned me on to a new summer squash recipe, which I made last night. It's a keeper, and my favorite way to eat yellow squash to date. I expect we'll be eating this a lot this summer, from the looks of our squash plants. If you're an olive lover, you'll want to try this.

Yellow Squash/Zucchini with Kalamata Olives

4 medium squash (approx 1.5 lbs), sliced crosswise

1 tbs salt

3 tbs olive oil

1 small onion, minced

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp oregano (I used a handful of fresh oregano)

black pepper

1/4 c kalamata olives (tip: the 2.25 oz can of Mario sliced kalamatas makes this easy)

Put squash in colander & sprinkle with the salt. Let drain over a bowl approx. 30 mins. Remove & pat dry. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion & cook until almost soft, approx. 3 mins. Increase heat to medium-high & add squash & lemon zest. Cook until golden brown, approx. 10 mins. Stir in lemon juice, oregano & kalamatas. Season with pepper.

I'd love it if you'd share some of your favorite summer squash recipes. Does anyone know the name of the red flowers? They were in a wildflower mix I spread last year.

Rain & Passionfruit

The passionfruit are doing so well. Lots of fruit on the vines, & I love looking at the flowers everyday, which the bumblebees adore. We spent another day in the garden yesterday. Joseph prepared beds, moved our Egyptian walking onions & planted much of our fall vegetables. I harvested vegi's, shelled lima beans & prepared a batch of elderberries for tincture. Today we're canning another round of tomatoes, while the rain comes & goes. So far this year, we're not doing a great job of calculating how much there is, so each canning session finds me running to the pantry for some more jars. Not a bad thing, to be sure. The peach season in the Sandhills is in progress, so after we finished our chores yesterday, we put the top down on Joseph's convertible & went in search of peaches. A good way to end a good day.